The ponyhawk was Sanjaya's biggest hair yet. As for its ratings...

For the fourth straight week, American Idol was down from its year-ago numbers.

Tuesday's Idol (first place, 28.2 million viewers), featuring Sanjaya Malakar's latest hair-raising 'do, and the rest of the Top 10 finalists, was off 3.5 million viewers for the same show last year, Nielsen Media Research stats show. Wednesday's Idol (second place, 26.9 million), featuring Chris Sligh's dismissal, was off 800,000.

Overall, as the big-fat numbers indicate, the Fox show is having no trouble dominating prime time; it's just having trouble keeping up with its own storied past.

Last season at this time, Idol was regularly topping 30 million viewers for either its performance show or results episode. This season, no Idol has reached or passed the 30-million mark since Feb. 28, when the 10 female semifinalists took the stage.

Idol's relative decline has coincided with the advent of Daylight Savings Time, which the network blames for the slip, and the rise of the vote-for-Malakar-no-matter-what movement, for which the likes of Howard Stern take credit.

While audiences eventually adjust to the spring-ahead clock, it's unknown how or if they'll adjust to the critically maligned Malakar, now listed as an 18-1 not so long shot to win Idol at the gaming site Bodog.com. (Melinda Doolittle is down as the 4-5 favorite.)

National treasure Tony Bennett ventures into Malakar's "own universe," as judge Paula Abdul put it, for this week's Idol.

Pray for his safe return.

Elsewhere, here are some other ratings highlights from the TV week ended Sunday:

• It might be time for ABC to get Sandy Duncan's people on the line. Heather Mills' one leg has the network back in the game with her walk-over flips on Dancing with the Stars (fifth place, 20.4 million for Monday's performance show; sixth place, 17.9 million for Tuesday's Paulina Porizkova ouster).
• If 'Til Death (eighth place, 14.5 million) wins renewal from Fox for a second season, Simon Cowell ought to ask for an onscreen thanks.
• America appears to be wising up a bit to Fox's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (24th place, 10.6 million). 
• NBC's The Black Donnellys (69th place, 5.4 million), Fox's The Wedding Bells (84th place, 4.4 million), ABC's Six Degrees (105th place, 3.1 million) and the CW's 7th Heaven (124th place, 1.7 million—a repeat) all went down Monday in the network-suite equivalent of the Moldavian massacre.
•  Like a plucky Krystle Carrington, NBC's Andy Barker, P.I. (92nd place, 4.2 million) survived the hail of bullets.
• Donny Osmond didn't have to wait until Monday for a pink slip. His ABC reality show, The Great American Dream Vote (59th place, 5.9 million for its first episode; 80th place, 4.5 million for its second—and last—episode), got put down last week.
• ABC's What About Brian (51st place, 6.8 million) kept the Grim Reaper at bay by concluding its second season in a tidy and timely fashion.
• All game shows are not created equal, as Deal or No Deal-led NBC is learning with Identity (67th place, 5.7 million).
• In cable, Nick's Kids' Choice Awards (6.1 million viewers) led the way, gathering its biggest-ever audience thanks to ample amounts of green goop and host Justin Timberlake.
• How many looky-loos want to see Jennifer Aniston lock lips with Courteney Cox? About 2.5 million, per the numbers for the season finale of FX's Dirt.

In the network races, CBS was first among total viewers (averaging 11.4 million), while Fox (10.4 million) was first among 18-to-49-year-old viewers.

ABC (8.7 million) managed a pair of third-place finishes. NBC (7.3 million) coped with a pair of fourth-place finishes.

The CW (2.8 million) was wondering whatever happened to the prurient interest in Pussycats Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll (114th place, 2.7 million).

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 28.2 million viewers
2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 26.9 million viewers
3. CSI, CBS, 22.7 million viewers
4. House, Fox, 20.8 million viewers
5. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 20.4 million viewers
6. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 17.9 million viewers
7. Shark, CBS, 14.5 million viewers
8. 'Til Death, Fox, 14.46 million viewers
9. NCAA Men's Basketball (UCLA vs. Florida), CBS, 14.4 million viewers
10. Survivor: Fiji, CBS, 13.7 million viewers